Its been 9 months since we welcomed our little Charlie into this world and I’m just finally getting around to posting his Birth Story. Mom Brain at its finest right there….
I drafted this original post on May 21st….clearly I got distracted and never got around to posting it. I’ve realized that I missed blogging and want to try and pick it up again. As many of you already know, on my Instagram and Facebook I post a daily picture update of Charlie. My plan was to do it for the first year of his life, but since we are quickly approaching that day…I want to make sure we continue to document his wonderful life! Hopefully my Mom Brain doesn’t interfere with my posting again, but until then…I hope you all enjoy Charlie’s Birth Story.
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I went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to share our birth story, but I have gotten so many questions about how everything went that I decided to share it with the world. I hope that our birth story can provide others with comfort in their upcoming deliveries and that some day Charlie can look back and see how he made his entrance into this world!!
Around week 37 I started developing high blood pressure. I was convinced that I was just getting myself worked up when I went into my appointments, but my midwife thought otherwise. They ran blood work to verify that I didn’t have preeclampsia and sent me for weekly ultrasounds that to make sure McBaby was still growing.
All of my tests and ultrasounds came back normal, but when in for my week 39 appointment they dropped a bomb on us…..we were being sent to the hospital to be induced!! I feared the word “induced” and I wanted to avoid it at all cost. I’ve heard nothing but horror stories from other moms and wasn’t confident in myself that I could endure. However, whether we liked it or not…..we were going to the hospital to have a baby!!
Friday, May 13th
11:30 AM – Tim and I arrived back home to gather our belongings before heading to the hospital. We were told to not rush to the hospital because apparently Friday The 14th is a popular day to go into labor and there were no available rooms at the time. So, we took our time and had one last play session with Bailey and did a few things around the house.
1:00 PM – We finally convinced ourselves to get into the car and arrived at the hospital. We gathered all of our thing and headed up to Labor & Delivery. Sure enough….there were still no rooms available and we had to hang out in Triage until one was available. Nothing exciting happened while in triage, except having one last ultrasound to verify that McBaby was head down. Sure enough he was and was enjoying his final moments in my belly while sucking on his thumb.
7:00 PM – After a long 7 hours in Triage, we were escorted to our Labor & Delivery Room. We unpacked our bags and started settling in…..we knew there was a possibility that labor could take up to THREE days, but remained optimistic that it would be sooner. Our doctor came in and we made a plan on how we were going to get McBaby out.
10:00 PM – I received my first dose of Misoprostol and we were officially on our way. There is a lot of controversy about Misoprostol and I would be lying if those concerns weren’t in the back of my head. I knew I had to do what was best for me and trust that my doctor wouldn’t do anything to put myself and McBaby in harm.
Saturday, May 14th
2:00 AM – Tim and I both tried our best to get some rest, but with nurses and doctors coming in and out of our room it was hard to do so. At 2am I received my second dose of the Misoprostol and mild cramping then started.
7:00 AM – Our doctor came in to check my cervix, it was thinning out, but we weren’t where we needed to be just yet. I then received a third dose of Misoprostol.
9:00 AM- The cramping started to get a little bit stronger, but nothing worse than a menstrual cramp. According to the monitors, I was having small contractions. I couldn’t feel much and was just relieved that things were progressing
11:00 AM: The doctor came in for another check to see if I need the final dose of the Misoprostol. NOPE – I was a full 1cm dilated. We still weren’t where we needed to be so they went onto inserting a Foley Catheter. That was an experience that I’m not too sure I want to go through ever again. It was really uncomfortable and just plain weird.
1:30 PM – I finally reached 2cm, but they wanted to get my contractions to become more rhythmic so that is when the Pitocin was started. Shortly after the Pitocin was started I could feel the contractions picking up and that was when I felt like I was in true labor.
3:30 PM – My water broke!! I was so happy that my water broke on its own, but shortly after it happened I realized that shit is about to get REAL now! The doctor came in shortly afterwards and I was 4cm dilated and the Foley Catheter was removed because it had done its job.
5:30 PM – After 2 long hours, I asked for the epidural. I was almost 6cm dilated and my contractions were one minute a part. The pain was so intense and was causing me to be so nauseous that I happily accepted the epidural!
I was so scared to get the epidural because I HATE when people touch my back. The Anesthesiologist was so patient with me and our Labor & Delivery nurse deserves a medal too for dodging my vomiting half way through receiving the epidural.
Once the epidural was in, my nurse got me lots of warm blankets and I took a little nap to gear up for THE BIG EVENT.
7:00 PM – Tim’s parents stopped by to visit with us for few. It was nice to have some company to take our minds off of things for a little bit. As they were there, the doctor came in to check on my progress…. I was 8cm dilated. I was so relieved that things were progressing, it meant that we were that much closer to meeting our McBaby!!
7:30 PM – After being check, I started having this small pain on my left side. The nurse thought that there could have been a pocket where the epidural didn’t reach, but I was to lay on my left side and she will increase the medication. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably no more than 10 minutes, I couldn’t breath through the pain anymore. I told the nurse that I felt like I needed to push because this baby was coming.
7:45 PM – The doctor was called back into my room and to her disbelief, I was 10cm dilated and the baby’s head was ready!!
8:00 PM – The pushing began!! Thank goodness I took my Fit Pregnancy seriously because I’m convinced that it made pushing that much easier. I didn’t feel like I was doing much, but Tim and our nurse kept encouraging me that I was doing a great job.
8:40ish PM – The doctors came back in to check on my progress and realized that is was baby time! They scrambled to get the bed broken down and into their scrubs. After a three pushes…..
8:42 PM – Charlie was placed on my chest and I immediately fell in love.
